On February 24, before the Organization of American States, I outlined a major new program for economic cooperation for the Caribbean Basin. Today I am transmitting this plan to the Congress for its action.

The economic, political and security challenges in the Caribbean Basin are formidable. Our neighbors need time to develop representative and responsive institutions, which are the guarantors of the democracy and justice that freedom's foes seek to stamp out. They also need the opportunity to achieve economic progress and improve their standard of living. Finally, they need the means to defend themselves against attempts by externally-supported minorities to impose an alien, hostile and unworkable system upon them by force. The alternative is further expansion of political violence from the extreme left and the extreme right, resulting in the imposition of dictatorships and -- inevitably -- more economic decline, and more human suffering and dislocation.

Today, I seek from the Congress the means to address the economic aspect of the challenge in the Caribbean Basin -- the underlying economic crisis which provides the opportunities which extremist and violent minorities exploit.

The crisis facing most of the Basin countries is real and acute. Deteriorating trade opportunities, worldwide recession, mounting debt burdens, growing unemployment and deepseated structural problems are having a catastrophic impact throughout the region. This economic disaster is consuming our neighbors' money reserves and credit, forcing thousands of people to emigrate, and shaking even the most established democracies.

This is not a crisis we can afford to ignore. The people of the Caribbean Basin are our neighbors. Their well-being and security are in our own vital interest. Events occurring in the Caribbean Basin can affect our lives in profound and dramatic ways. The migrants in our midst are a vivid reminder of the closeness of this problem to all of us.

The program I am presenting to Congress today is integrated and designed to improve the lives of the peoples of the Caribbean Basin by enabling them to earn their own way to a better future. It builds on the principles of intergrating aid, self-help and participation in trade and investment which I emphasized at the Cancun Summit last October. It is a different kind of assistance program for developing countries, based on principles and practices which are uniquely American and which we know have worked in the past. It will help revitalize the economies of this strategically critical region by attacking the underlying causes of economic stagnation. Most significantly, it helps expand economic opportunities for the people of the Caribbean Basin to make possible the achievement of a lasting political and social tranquillity based on freedom and justice.

I want to emphasize that this program is not an end in itself. What we seek in the final analysis is to help the people in the Basin build for themselves a better life, not just economically but across the full spectrum of human needs and aspirations. History, and particularly the history of this Hemisphere, has shown that a pluralistic society with strong, free private institutions -- churches, free trade unions, businesses, professional and other voluntary associations, and an independent press -- is our best hope in moving toward that ultimate goal.

Our development program takes this into account; it will encourage progress in the beneficiary countries toward reasonable workplace conditions and opportunities for workers to associate freely and bargain collectively.

The United States has been developing this program in close consultation with the countries of the region and with other donor countries. Last July, we joined with Canada, Mexico and Venezuela to launch a multilateral action program for the region. It was agreed that each country would develop its own program but within a multilateral consultative framework. Mexico and Venezuela are operating an oil facility for the Caribbean Basin. Canada is more than doubling its aid. The program I am presenting today is our contribution.

We have worked carefully with both government officials and the private sector in the Basin countries to assess their needs and their own priorities. We have also consulted with other potential donors, including Colombia, as well as multilateral development institutions. This program is part of an overall coordinated effort by countries within and outside the region. Its structure will ensure not only that our own actions will be effective, but that their impact will be multiplied by the efforts of many others.

The program is based on integrated and mutually-reinforcing measures in the fields of trade, investment and financial assistance:

-- Its centerpiece is the offer of one-way free trade. I am requesting authority to eliminate duties on all imports from the Basin except textiles and apparel items subject to textile agreements. The only other limitation will be for sugar; as long as a sugar price support program is in effect, duty-free imports of sugar will be permitted only up to specified ceilings. Safeguards will be available to U.S. industries seriously injured by increased Basin imports. Rules of origin will be liberal to encourage investment but will require a minimum amount of local content (25 percent). I will designate beneficiary countries taking into account such factors as the countries' self-help policies.

-- I am proposing an extension of the 10 percent tax credit that now applies only to domestic investment to new equity investments in qualifying Caribbean Basin countries. A country would qualify for the benefit for a period of five years by entering into a bilateral executive agreement with the U.S. to exchange information for tax administration purposes.

-- I am requesting a supplemental appropriation for the FY 1982 foreign assistance program in the amount of $350 million in emergency economic assistance. This assistance will help make possible financing of critical imports for the private sector in Basin countries experiencing a severe credit crunch. I expect to allocate the emergency supplemental in the region as follows:

El Salvador: $128 million. El Salvador's economy is in desperate straits. The insurgents have used every tactic of terrorism to try to destroy it. El Salvador desperately needs as much assistance to stimulate production and employment as we can prudently provide while also helping other countries of the region.

Costa Rica: $70 million. Costa Rica has a long tradition of democracy which is now being tested by the turmoil of its economy. Once Costa Rica has embarked on a recovery plan, it will need significant assistance to succeed in restoring investor confidence and credit to its hard-hit private sector.

Honduras: $35 million. The poorest country in the Central American region, Honduras faces severe balance of payments constraints, spawned primarily from falling prices of major exports and rising import costs.

Jamaica: $50 million. Jamaica's recovery is under way but continued success is still heavily dependent on further quick-disbursing assistance to overcome a shortage of foreign exchange for raw materials and spare parts.

Dominican Republic: $40 million. The Dominican Republic is attempting to adjust to drastically-reduced economic activity brought on primarily by falling prices of its major export crop (sugar) and heavy dependence on imported oil. Critical economic reforms must take place in a difficult political climate as elections grow near. Once the free trade provisions go into effect, the Dominican Republic will also receive as a result of the duty-free quota for its sugar exports immediate benefits going beyond the $40 million indicated here.

Eastern Caribbean: $10 million. Economic stagnation has dried up investment and strangled development in these island mini-states where unemployment is a particular problem, especially among youths.

Belize: $10 million. Newly-independent Belize faces a perilous economic situation brought on by falling sugar prices and stagnant growth. Belize needs short-term assistance as a bridge to the development of its own considerable natural resources.

Haiti: $5 million. Illegal immigration from Haiti is spurred by stagnant economic activity and a credit-starved private sector in a country already desperately poor.

Latin American Regional/American Institute for Labor Development (AIFLD): $2 million. Free labor movements, assisted by our small AIFLD programs, can be the underpinning of a healthy private sector and its ability to expand and grow, leading the region to stable social and economic progress.

In a separate action I am also requesting action on the economic assistance program for FY 1983. This includes $664 million in economic assistance for the Caribbean Basin. This program will be directed largely into longer-term programs aimed at removing basic impediments to growth. Although not a part of the legislation which I am transmitting today, the FY 1983 aid request is an integral part of our overall program for the Caribbean Basin. We cannot think of this program as a one-time injection of U.S. interest and effort. If it is to succeed it must be a sustained commitment over a number of years. I strongly urge the Congress to approve this request in full.

In addition to these legislative requests, I am directing the following actions, which are within the discretion of the Executive Branch:

-- We will extend more favorable treatment to Caribbean Basin textile and apparel exports within the context of our overall textile policy.

-- We will seek to negotiate bilateral investment treaties with interested countries.

-- We will work with multilateral development banks and the private sector to develop insurance facilities to supplement OPIC's political risk insurance coverage for U.S. investors.

-- The U.S. Export-Import Bank will expand protection, where its lending criteria allow, for short-term credit from U.S. banks, as well as local commercial banks, to Caribbean Basin private sectors for critical imports.

-- With the governments and private sectors of interested countries, we will develop private sector strategies for each country. These strategies will coordinate and focus development efforts of local business, U.S. firms, private voluntary organizations, the U.S. Government, and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The strategies will seek new investment and employment opportunities and will also seek to remove impediments to growth including lack of marketing skills, trained manpower, poor regional transport, and inadequate infrastructure.

Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have a long-standing special relationship with the United States. Their development must be enhanced by our policy toward the rest of the region. We have consulted closely with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands about the Caribbean Basin Initiative and the legislation I am requesting today will reflect Puerto Rican and Virgin Island interests in many important ways.

-- The Accelerated Cost Recovery System (ACRS) and the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) will be extended to property used by companies operating in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Similar benefits will be available to other U.S. possessions.

-- Excise taxes on all imported rum will be transferred to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

-- Inputs into Caribbean Basin production from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will be considered domestic inputs from Caribbean Basin countries for purposes of the rules of origin.

-- Industries in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands will have access to the same safeguards provisions as mainland industries.

In addition, we will support proposed legislation which will permit products from the Virgin Islands whose foreign content does not exceed 70 percent to receive duty-free treatment. At present the maximum foreign content permitted is 50 percent.

To further the integrated agricultural development of the Caribbean Basin, we will make greater use of the agricultural and forestry research, extension and training facilities of the Federal Government and those of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, especially the tropical agricultural research facility at Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

All these elements in the Caribbean Basin program are inextricably linked together, and to the fundamental objective of helping our neighbors help themselves. A key principle of the program is to encourage a more productive, competitive and dynamic private sector, and thereby provide the jobs, goods and services which the people of the Basin need for a better life for themselves and their children. All the elements of this program are designed to help establish the conditions under which a free and competitive private sector can flourish.

Most countries in the Basin already recognize that they must reform many of their economic policies and structures in profound and sometimes painful ways in order to take advantage of the new economic opportunities of this program. We -- the United States and other outside donors -- can offer assistance and support, but only the people in the Basin themselves can make this program work.

Some of the benefits of this program will take considerable time to mature; others are designed to have an immediate effect. But the challenge is already upon us; the time to begin is now. I urge the Congress to act with maximum speed.

I also urge the Congress to consider very carefully any changes in this program. The actions in trade, aid and investment are inter-related. Each supports the other, so that together they comprise a real spur toward the entrepreneurial dynamism which the area so badly needs. A significant weakening in any of them could undermine the whole program.

In the Caribbean Basin, we seek above all to support those values and principles that shape the proud heritage of this Nation and this Hemisphere. With the help of this Congress, we shall see these values not only survive but triumph in a Caribbean Basin which is a community of peace, freedom and prosperity.

Ronald Reagan

The White House,

March 17, 1982.

Note: The text of the proposed bill and a section-by-section analysis were included as part of the White House press release.